AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE TELEPHONE (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series. This program recounts the invention and rise to prominence of the harmonic telegraph, better known as the telephone. The program opens in the late-nineteenth century during a time of great inventing that brought the world the lightbulb, skyscraper, elevator, refrigerator, and, of course, the telephone. Next, the early lives of the phone's inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson, are detailed. Susan Cheever, an author (and Watson's great-granddaughter), discusses how the men met in Boston, and how inventors were that era's "rock stars." Clips are shown from the 1947 film "Mr. Bell." In archival footage from 1929, Watson discusses early prototypes of what would later become the phone, plus the now-famous, "Come here Watson, I need you" incident, which would stand as the first phone call ever. Next, Robert Bruce, Bell's biographer, talks about him presenting the telephone at the 1876 centennial celebration in Philadelphia. Barney Finn of the Smithsonian Institute further details how astounded scientists were by the invention. Next, the documentary discusses how the telephone went from a "novelty to a necessity," en route to making Bell and Watson into very wealthy men. John Vincent Boyer of the Twain House details how writer Mark Twain was one of the very first people to have a household phone. Next, Louis Galambos, a historian, discusses the battle that Western Union and Thomas Edison waged against Bell and Watson in trying to become the preeminent phone service provider in the nation. The final part of the film discusses the role of early switchboard operators, telephone etiquette (you should answer the phone "Hoy hoy!"), and how the telephone came to reach the place in everyday life and the world that it has today.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: February 3, 1997 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:48
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:67464
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Inventions/Inventors; Telephone;
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1988-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Margaret Drain … Executive Producer
- Susan Mottau … Coordinating Producer
- Kirk Simon … Producer, Director, Writer
- Karen Goodman … Producer, Director, Writer
- Elizabeth Westrate … Associate Producer
- Nancy Graydon Roach … Associate Producer
- Morgan Wesson … Production (Misc.), Consulting Producer
- Morley Safer … Narrator
- Spalding Gray … Voice
- Julianne Moore … Voice
- Kurt Vonnegut … Voice
- Frank Whaley … Voice
- Alexander Graham Bell
- John Vincent Boyer
- Robert Bruce
- Susan Cheever
- Thomas Edison
- Barney Finn
- Louis Galambos
- Mark Twain
- Thomas A. Watson